January 19, 2010Deming’s 14 Points: Part 2

Here’s part 2, numbers 7 through 14 of Deming’s Points of Management (courtesy of the Deming Institute)

Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company. Fear causes a scarcity mindset. When the mind believes there is scarcity (a scarcity of everything from fun, to jobs, to tasks) it begins to shrivel up into itself. It refuses to share, collaborate, grow or generate new ideas. An organization that operates out of fear cannot be innovative. We must eliminate fear, and replace it with love. A mind that operates around love believes in Abundance, the abundance of jobs, tasks, money, influence. When we are not afraid, we are free to work together. To collaborate, share and innovate great products to please our customers.

Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team, to foresee problems of production and in use that may be encountered with the product or service. Many times in an organization we don’t even know who we need to go to in order to get things done. Because of too much departmental structure, we are discouraged from building inter-departmental teams. Creativity and thoughtfulness flow most freely when many different perspectives are being shared. When projects are always worked on by the same people from the same department, things tend to get stale.

Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force. Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute leadership. Eliminate management by objective. Eliminate management by numbers, numerical goals. Substitute leadership.

Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of workmanship. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality. The shortest road to employee empowerment, and engagement is allowing one to have pride in their work. Once the pride is instilled in their daily tasks, then they can begin to be trusted to make baseline decisions. Decision making is the first step to empowerment. Empowered employees are happy, they feel respected and feel they are part of the process.

Remove barriers that rob people in management and in engineering of their right to pride of workmanship. This means, inter alia, abolishment of the annual or merit rating and of management by objective. People on the manufacturing lines aren’t the only ones who need to feel pride in what they do. When managers lose the passion for leading people, there can be very negative repercussions on products, customer relations, and employee relations. Finding ways to keep management connected to their daily contributions, and encouraging them, helps them to feel as though their work is important to the bigger picture.

Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement. At Bama we encourage all our employees to quit smoking cigarettes, to become physically fit, and to reengage in training sessions. Furthering training and education helps cut down on accidents and defects.

Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody’s job. Getting everyone on board is the most important thing. Make sure everyone is trained properly on any new techniques, and make sure the entire organization changes their mindset to reflect the new environment.